BY SAMMY JULIAN
WE have yet to see the end of the campaign to push the Obama administration to grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Filipino nationals in the United States.
Filipino-American leaders remain hopeful they will come to a decision soon after a meeting with top officials of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to discuss the issue.
While a decision was not announced at the meeting , DHS officials assured Filipino American community leaders that their “thoughts and opinions will be carefully communicated back” to DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson who will make the final decision.
The request to designate the Philippines under TPS was officially conveyed on December 13, 2013 in the wake of super typhoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) by the Philippine government through its embassy in Washington DC to the DHS through a note verbale to the US State Department.
“Yolanda” killed more than 6,000 people, displaced more than four million, and affected more than 12 million during its violent rampage across central Philippines on November 2013.
If the Philippines gets a TPS designation, eligible Filipinos will be allowed to stay and work in the US so they could support the country’s long-term post-typhoon recovery efforts.
Currently, there are two bureaus within the State Department involved in this process – the Office of Population, Refugees and Migration headed by Secretary Anne Richard, and the Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs headed by Daniel Russel.
During the meeting held last week at the Romulo Hall of the US embassy, the DHS pointed out that there is a statutory standard that they must meet before granting TPS, among them is the impact of the environmental disaster to the Philippines’ capacity to take back and absorb its citizens.
For this, the National Federation of Filipino-American Associations (NaFFAA) has a ready-made presentation of their humanitarian arguments and the economic benefits.
NaFFAA said if the 200,000 Filipino nationals who live in the shadows are given temporary legal status, they will obtain better jobs and can remit more money to their families back home. The fees alone of TPS applicants will amount to more than $100,000, easily offsetting the administrative costs of running this program.
They further stressed the urgency of granting TPS as a crucial part of long-term recovery and rebuilding considering that the Filipino people affected by “Yolanda” continue to suffer infrastructure problems.
Another typhoon has just hit the Philippines, they said, and more are expected making everyday a struggle and putting Filipinos in a very vulnerable state.
In response, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) said they want a better understanding of the overall situation. CIS officials said they were interested in knowing the actual number of people displaced and still living in shelters, and the actual number of Filipino nationals connected to them.
Sadly, this was the same line expressed by DHS officials eight months ago.
They said they were still in their process of gathering materials and information necessary to make a recommendation. Their lawyers are also reviewing the information and will make a legal determination as to whether the Philippines meets the requirements of the TPS statute.
But the fact is, the two bureaus of the State Department are still trying to determine whether the request meets the two requirements of the natural disaster category: was there a significant and temporary disruption in the affected area and can the country adequately receive Filipino nationals back into the country.
In other words, there are still many bureaucratic processes that need to happen before the final recommendation is made.
The question really is: how much time do they really need to make an assessment when in fact, time is of the essence./PN
